Many older adults have trouble using wearable alarms. In emergencies it may be difficult for an older adult to call out for help, push an alarm button, or take some other action to summon help. In some situations, such as when a person has suffered a fall or other traumatic event (a so called “adverse event”), it may be too difficult, if not impossible, for the older adult to use any type of device that may require active participation by the older adult.
Many older adults have smartphones. However, many older adults have trouble using smartphones for a number of reasons including difficulty in using common smartphone features such as touch displays, small text, small buttons, etc. Especially, in emergencies it may be difficult for an older adult to place a timely call for help to the appropriate caregiver or emergency services. In some situations, such as when a person has suffered a fall or other traumatic health event (a so called “adverse event”), it may be too difficult, if not impossible, for the older adult to place the call to get help using any type of device that may require the active participation of the adult themselves. Smartphones have sensors and computing power that lend themselves to detecting adverse events, such as falls, prolonged inactivity, etc. However, initiating a smartphone app may be difficult, especially in an emergency.
Also, many smartphones would run out of battery power much too quickly if they were to continuously run a software module for fall detection that continuously polled the necessary sensors and processed the data in a timely fashion. As a result of these and other issues, there has been very little adoption of using smartphones for detection of abnormal behavior, such as falls, prolonged inactivity, etc.
Moreover, the operational time for many devices that are intended to be worn on people (so called “wearable devices”) are limited due to battery energy constraints. Wearable devices that contain sensors, processors, displays, etc., often need to be recharged frequently, in some cases limiting their usefulness for some continuous types of processing (e.g. data collection, software operation, etc.).
In general, many people prefer not to have to wear a traditional safety alarm all the time, as it may be difficult to do in practice and may require cumbersome changes to a person's daily routine.